Cursed Bonds
by MidnightStar64
Summary: It was just a normal day and Sonic discovers a box in the ground. Suddenly he is on a journey to find a lost, and never thought to have existed, race and has more excitement in a long time. Relationships will form and feelings unknown to them will be realized.There will be sonadow later and there will be embarrassing and funny moments. This is my first story so please R&R.
1. A New Discovery

**Hey guys, I am new to writing stories and if there is anything you would like to correct I would be glad to take that into consideration. Sonic and his friends have graciously agreed to allow me to write this story on them and I am glad they did.**

**Sonic and Friends: mumph mumph mumph **

**Sonic:*Sonic spits out gag* Don't listen to her she is insane and we will never go along with this!**

**Well deal with it! *re-gags Sonic***

**Well as a lot of other people do here's the disclaimer then "ON WITH THE STORY!"**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of the characters or anything from SEGA**

**Chapter 1: A New Discovery**

As usual sonic has just on on his usual run. Well, it was a run to him, and a record time for us. Each time he was just running faster than ever and blissfully ignorant to anything that got in his way, until he tripped.

"Ugghhh, what the hell was that? I could have sworn that nothing was in my way." Sonic got up rather quickly for someone who just tripped going like a trillion miles an hour, but we know that our favorite hero never stays off his feet for too long. he got up and took a look at just what tripped him but was surprised to see nothing, until he took a closer look.

Apparently there was a small box hidden in the dirt. It had slightly tinged engravings and most seemed to have eroded over the years. The box was outlined in gold while the original coloring was an emerald green (but not quite enough to rival the green of his own eyes). But what was the most surprising was how the box seemed to emit a glow and chaos energy.

Amazed about his new discovery but not knowing what it was exactly, the ever curious hedgehog tried to open the box himself. He pried punched, bit, kicked and threw the box at cliffs but was unsuccessful. Giving up on his own he thought that Tails might find a way to open it. He hurried to head back home to Tails who was doing some upgrade work on the Tornado. (I know he is usually stubborn and doesn't want to ask for help but he really wanted to know what was in the box)

Tails was having a great time. He was almost done working on the Tornado and he never was surprised or disturbed by anyone. Usually Sonic would come in at this time and distract him with some stupid thing he wanted to ask or just plain annoy him out of sheer boredom. At that precise moment when Tails let his guard down and truly relaxed, a certain speedy blue hedgehog sneaked up on him and gave him a tap on the shoulder.

'Well speak of the devil, just like Sonic to arrive right when I think I can relax' Tails thought. Although he was bothered from the task he was doing, seeing his adopted brother around again put him slightly at ease. Most of the time when Sonic didn't disturb him was either because he was fighting Eggman or he was in trouble. There was nothing about Eggman attacking anyone that day so the thought that Sonic was in trouble did come to mind, but that idea was obviously pushed away in the last few seconds.

"Hey Sonic, you really have to stop sneaking up on me like that. I live with you and I'm still not used to it at all"

"Sorry little buddy, I found something and i really want to know what's inside so I rushed over here as fast as I could."

This perked the fox's interest. "Really, what?"

"This box, I was taking my usual run when I tri-... when I spotted this not too far away" Sonic just couldn't tell Tails how he tripped on the box. His huge ego and pride simply wouldn't allow it.

Taking a look at the box Tails almost immediately noticed the strange engraving on the box. Staring at shock at it he was nearly jumping out of Mobius at the discovery his brother made.

"Sonic do you realize what you have just found? This is an ancient artifact from an ancient race and civilization that was thought to have been nothing but a fairy tale!"

"Sorry bro, but I'm afraid that I have no idea what you are talking about."

"Well that's understandable, considering that it isn't very well known, but i was interested in this a while back. Their race is the Varona and the people were called the Varons. They were thought to be a mystical society that had powers and great wealth."

"Really, that's new, but if they were known to have such great wealth then why haven't people tried to visit them before?"

"Well that's not the end of it, and it gets weirder as the story progresses. The people of this civilization were HEDGEHOGS."

"What?!"

"Yeah, and stop interrupting! Now these people were found and hunted for their wealth but they didn't see it that way. Their wealth was a common sight for them and very common because they could make more. These people were hunted for that reason and the story tells that by combining their powers of wind, earth, fire, and water they could make gold. It is said that it was a gift from their gods."

"Wow, so there could be other hedgehogs like me who have abilities like I do? What a day, and I thought that I was the only one who had abilities like this. Still I have a question, if they were hunted then why don't we know of them now?"

"That's because they hid themselves among everyone else and vowed to never use their power again unless it was absolutely necessary. This box that you found might just be the key to looking for them."

"Well than what are we waiting for lets open it!" They worked long and hard and using whatever they could to retrieve the contents of the box without destroying it but unfortunately they had no success. Tails was reluctant to damage such a valuable and unique artifact but in the end decided to whip out the blow torch and try to open it that way. Even then there wasn't even a scratch on the box.

"What the heck is this thing made of?!" Sonic didn't usually use bad words but after 3 hours of trying to get a box open you tend to get annoyed.

"I don't know but I guess we should see if Rouge could get it open. She is great at opening locks and maybe she could help."

"Good idea, I'll also invite Shadow, he is a hedgehog and maybe his creator got ahold of some Varon DNA and managed to put it into Shadow making him fast. And Knuckles too because he might be able to read the inscription."

Tails seemed a bit unsettled at this but he decided to let Shadow come anyways because Sonic did have a point. Tails might be a genius, but he was still a kid and Shadow frightened him a bit. He had no idea why Sonic would become friends with someone like Shadow but he knew that his brother always gave others the benefit of the doubt and decided to do the same.

Sonic called Shadow and Rouge first on the phone and Rouge picked up. She listened to Sonic's story and at the mention of the wealth her interest lit up. Where there is wealth there is gold and where there is gold there are jewels. Sonic told her to bring Shadow and asked them to bring Knuckles also so there was a better chance of discovering something worthwhile. She said that they would be over there quickly and wasted no time saying goodbye so she could get her things. Both Sonic and Rouge agreed that if they did find something it would probably involve and overnight trip.

"Shadow, get your rump down here and bring some luggage! We're going on a trip with Sonic, Knuckles, and Tails and you are coming whether or like it or not!

Grumbling he came down with the luggage and did what Rouge said because her tone meant business and when she used that tone even Shadow knew that there was no use fighting her. Still that didn't mean that he couldn't ask why.

Quickly she explained. At first he didn't understand but at the mention of jewels he knew the reason what she wanted to help them out. Before he could protest about not going she reminded him that he was living at her house for free and he wanted to repay her back so he just gave up there.

They rushed to find Knuckles and Amy was visiting at that time to see if she could get some herbs to make a love potion that she found in a magazine and wasted no time trying to make it. She saw Rouge and Shadow with Knuckles and was going to ignore them when she heard three deadly words come out of Rouge's mouth "I, Sonic, and sleep." Before she could tackle them they used chaos control and so she settled for the next best information source, Knuckles.

"Knuuuucklesssss. May I have a word with you please?"

One look at Amy told Knuckles that Amy meant business and if he was a cartoon character he would have sweat drops all over him by now.

About 2 hours later everyone arrived at Sonic and Tails' house except for Knuckles.

"Where is that knucklehead? Even he knows that everyone agreed to meet up here."

"Who are you calling Knucklehead?"

"Hey Knuckles, about time you got here. Why so much luggage?" said a certain blue hedgehog.

"Well, it's not mine its-"

"Sonic! Did you miss me?! I know I missed you!" Before he could do anything Amy had him in a death hug and it took all of his strength in order to keep a straight face.

If looks could have killed Knuckles would have been dead 100 times over by now. Sonic loved Amy but more brotherly rather than as a lover but if someone wanted her heart he wouldn't be an over protective brother. He would drop her, leave, and hope she was happy.

"Sorry Sonic," Knuckles said," She was already on Angel Island when Rouge and Shadow told me about this and overheard a bit of hat we were talking about so she interrogated me and I sort of spilled everything. Then she made me take her home help her with her luggage and come here so she could come with us on this journey."

Sonic thought to himself 'This is going to be a long trip.' He sighed and then everyone gathered around the box to examine it. Knuckles recognized something almost as fast as Tails did about the box. The inscription clearly said "The Map of The Varons"


	2. A New World

**Hello again. Before anything i would personally like to thank Poltique for reviewing my work and I quote "This is interesting. Update soon please." So thank you again for that review. I am a seriously new writer and am grateful for any review at all, since this is like my first time writing a story EVER.**

**Sonic: NO, Really.*sarcastic***

**SHUT UP! You're the one that has to live through it along with your friends. I can put you through a whole life of pain, and then a living hell followed by a miserable existence. Any other opinions?**

**Everyone Else:*Cricket Cricket***

**Good now here is an update dedicated to Poltique as thanks for reviewing.**

**Sonic:*mutters* Why did you give her a positive review in the first place?**

**DO I HAVE TO GAG YOU AGAIN!?**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of the characters or anything from SEGA**

PREVIEW OF THE LAST CHAPTER:

"Sorry Sonic," Knuckles said," She was already on Angel Island when Rouge and Shadow told me about this and overheard a bit of hat we were talking about so she interrogated me and I sort of spilled everything. Then she made me take her home help her with her luggage and come here so she could come with us on this journey."

Sonic thought to himself 'This is going to be a long trip.' He sighed and then everyone gathered around the box to examine it. Knuckles recognized something almost as fast as Tails did about the box. The inscription clearly said "The Map of The Varons"

**Chapter 2: A New World  
**

"Hey Tails, is this inscription really chipped and worn out?" Knuckles said.

"Yeah, the information I have says pieces of the inscription was cut off long ago, why?"

"Because I can read it clearly, and it says 'The Map of The Varons' also the inscription doesn't even have any rough edges to it. From the looks of things, it was made about 8 years ago."

"But that should be impossible. Even if that's true, an artifact of this age should have been made at least 5,000 years ago." Puzzled the little Fox didn't know what to think as he tried to make sense of the new information he received from the red Echidna.

Everyone was puzzled at the discovery pointed out from Knuckles and they all thought the same thing…

"Maybe this box holds a lot more of information than we originally thought." Tails made the point that everyone was thinking but was too in shock to say.

"That could mean that there are more hedgehogs in the world than we originally thought. I might actually be able to see more of … well, me!" This statement surprised everyone as Sonic let the words come out. He stared at everybody and said "What?"

As if the gods themselves were shocked at this statement everyone in the world seemed to be silent as his friends said one thing, "YOU OF ALL PEOPLE, WHO TRAVELED AROUND THE WORLD, I DON'T KNOW HOW MANY TIMES, NEVER MET ANOTHER HEDGEHOG!" Even the birds and bugs and any other living creature seemed to hold their breath.

"Well other than Amy and Shadow I never met anyone else, many people do not know this but hedgehogs are like loners and don't really come out into the open much and are mostly nocturnal. I usually travel during the day so it isn't really that much of a surprise and I never had that much interest in other hedgehogs until now.

"We'll that does make sense for once, faker but then why are you so out in the open?" As Shadow said this everyone was a little surprised at it too but seeing as how he was also a hedgehog not nearly as surprised a few moments ago.

"I was orphaned when I was a little hogget so it isn't very abnormal. I looked out for myself and I didn't learn how to exactly be 'a normal hedgehog', besides I like being free and in the open. Now back to important matter, how do we open it?"

Knuckles tried to examine the box for any further inscriptions but there was only one more and it said 'norvas'. "Sorry guys but I can't find anything of any more use. The symbols on the other side of the box translate into norvas but that's all."

As the group stood there they were all stumped. Rouge tried to help out but there was no lock or anything else that she could have possibly cracked. Out of sheer boredom the speedy hedgehog said "I'm bored so I'll just head out for a run now. Let me know if you discover anything new about the inscription."

Before he could even take a step a certain black hedgehog stopped him. "Now wait just a minute, you call us over to help YOU out with and inscription but then you want to LEAVE and push the work onto US? At least give contribute a single idea to help out. Wait, scratch that, go right ahead and run you probably can't spare any brain cells thinking about this."

Furious at this Sonic gave a sarcastic comment as usual. "Fine, then here's an idea, unscramble the word 'norvas'.

"That is the most moronic idea that I have ever heard in my life."

The blue hedgehog just shrugged. "You asked for an idea, not how good it is."

"Why you annoying…"

"Wait Shadow, I think Sonic has a good point." Tails exclaimed. Everyone else was in shock for a moment but Sonic broke that t=shock pretty quickly.

"I did?" Sonic had a puzzled expression on his face; he obviously wasn't going to contribute a worthwhile idea in the first place, but seemed to anyway.

"Yeah, you did Sonic," Said Tails. "We have all been making this too complicated. We should have thought simpler. The Varons were a very cunning race and were very clever so we all thought that this would be a very hard thing to figure out and became stumped. They however saw through this and made the lock a very simple one, to scramble the name of their race. Taking a closer look you can see that those letters can be moved and changed."

As Tails took one of the letters out a bar followed with notches on it. The letter bar was clearly made to hold firmly in place but also moveable.

"Knuckles, can you read the letters and change them to read 'Varon'?"

"Sure, no problem Tails. It'll be done faster than you can say master emerald." Then the red echidna went straight to work and when the last key was in place, a clearly audible 'CLICK' could be heard. The box could be opened without a problem and inside it was a scroll. When the inscription on the box said, 'The Map of the Varons,' the box really was very literal in saying so. The scroll was a dark green and the parchment attached was very white and it was like knuckles said, it didn't look old at all. The scroll seemed to have been made very recently. This puzzled Tails but not enough to keep him from looking inside.

Everyone crowded around him, wondering what could be written on the scroll. As tails opened the scroll there was a minute of tension in the air as they waited for the results but there was nothing on the scroll.

"Well this bites, I really hoped there was going to be a map to them but it seems that I was wrong," said Sonic.

Shadow scoffed, "No surprise there but a scroll shouldn't be just blank there has to be a simple clue we're overlooking like with the box. Tails hand the scroll to me I'll see if I can make sense of it." The moment the scroll reached his hands it started glowing. Seeing as how there were surprising things revealed already about the box he opened the scroll the minute it began to glow. At that moment there were words on it.

The scroll wrote "Sonic the Hedgehog of the Light" and "Shadow the Hedgehog of the Dark" and several others with names and either fire, water, earth, or mind but one of the most interesting was "Midnight the Hedgehog of the Elements." Then the scroll glowed once more to reveal a map. To test whether this would happen again with someone else the scroll was passed around until it glowed and the only other one who could do the same thing was Sonic.

This confused everyone. First of all the only thing that was similar about the two was that they were both hedgehogs. Second of all, Shadow was created by a scientist so he wasn't exactly born as a Varon. And the most confusing was how they were both written in the scroll even though they just learned about it that day.

"This doesn't make any sense at all. None of this should be possible." Tails was confused once again, but Sonic sensing his friend's distress comforted him.

"Hey Tails, don't get so down. What matters is that we got the scroll open and we have a map but judging from this map we won't be able to just use a plane's navigational system. We're going to have to go on foot. Nothing on this map seems to match with the world so we should get started."

"Wait a minute Sonic;" said Rouge, "You and Shadow may have no problem but what about all of us. We can't exactly use any transportation and we are definitely anywhere close as fast as the two of you."

This caused Sonic to think and came up with a quick solution. "Shadow you can chaos control everyone to the location once we find it. this way we can run ahead while letting everyone else catch up."

As much as he didn't want to admit it (which he didn't) the black hedgehog knew that he had a point so he just said "Fine."

And off they went, speeding faster than ever before, both hedgehogs made it to the destination with hours to spare. Shadow chaos controlled everyone with their stuff and they ended up at a portal. The portal emitted no energy at all. If they weren't looking for it they probably would have missed it all together.

Excited by the new discovery Sonic just jumped straight for the open portal. And once again he was stopped by Shadow. 'Man, why is it that he is being so limiting all of a sudden. First he stops my run and now this. I need an adventure but all he does is stop me. I'm beginning to think he is my dad or something.'

"What now Shadow." Shadow could tell that Sonic was very annoyed but he could care less. 'This blue idiot isn't thinking about what might happen. Just because he is bored doesn't mean he can simply run into an adventure without thinking. He could get killed. I guess that's what people mean when they say that they're dying from boredom.'

"You aren't thinking you moron. We don't know what is on the other side of this portal. What if you end up in an ocean or a battle zone? Heck, you might even end up in the air thousands of miles above Earth or worse, out of the atmosphere. Then what will everyone else do while we wait for someone who isn't even coming back?"

"Fine, then what do you suggest we do? I don't see you coming up with a better idea." The hedgehog was annoyed but he did realize that Shadow was right. He would leave behind everyone he cared about and then they might be in danger. He never was going to admit anything though so he just let out sarcastic remarks.

"Here's one, I go out there with Rouge. Worst case I can chaos control out of there and if chaos control didn't work then rouge could fly me in case we are above ground." Although Sonic didn't say anything he nodded his head and let them go. His stubbornness wouldn't let him concur with Shadow's idea.

Shadow and Rouge stepped through the portal and poked their heads out to let everyone else know that it was safe. As they stepped through the portal revealed a land of lush trees, bushes, and many other living creatures. There were caves, and from what they could tell they were on a hill.

"Come on Shadow let's check this place out. There is a whole new world for us to explore." And before Shadow could protest and say that they should stick with the group, there was a sonic boom while Sonic was gone. With a sigh he took off after the blue hedgehog after he told the others. With Sonic zooming around the place it wasn't really all that hard to find him again.


	3. A Friend or an Enemy

**Damn, I keep updating the very next day...NOT a good habit. Please don't expect the updates from me to be daily since it is because of hurricane Sandy keeping me out of school. I LOVE IT ^.^ Who DOESN'T like no school? Anyways, it is entertainment for me to be writing these so yeah. In truth I am a procrastinator, but being stuck in your house for days without anything to do can get to you.**

**Sonic: Yeah, we know that the best. She takes her frustration of not being able to do anything out on us poor characters.**

**Shadow: I have to admit, if it wasn't for the fact that I am one of the characters she takes it out on, I would be impressed.**

**0.0 ... Okayyy. Now on that disturbing note, here is chapter 3 :D (Also no more previews. People I have given up on that very early because if you want to know what happened then ... READ THE GODDAMNED CHAPTER AGAIN!)**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of the characters or anything from SEGA**

**Chapter 3: A Friend or an Enemy**

It wasn't long before Shadow caught up with the speedy hedgehog. With his curiosity Sonic went slower than usual. He wanted to look at as much as he could while going fast. When Shadow did come across the annoying nuisance he saw him staring out above the trees. It was so serene and calm. The birds were chirping, the sun was shining and the occasional cloud that came passing through. Away from the city with the noise and pollution; when you often woke up early because of an idiot who made loud noises at 7:00 in the morning. 'I can understand why he likes running so much. This is a nice escape from the noise I get every morning.' Sonic was calm and had a very relaxed look in his eyes. Shadow was a little surprised at how he never saw this side of Sonic before. He noted how there was an air about Sonic that he never thought would exist.

'Funny. I always thought of him as someone who enjoyed the spotlight and the noise of people. It seems so strange that he is so peaceful. His normally bright emerald eyes and ears seemed to relax and they look so soft. He looks so cu-' Shadow almost slapped himself, but stopped before he did. If Sonic thought Shadow was just standing there looking at him he would be put in a very awkward position. He hated that hedgehog. For some unknown reason when he was around Shadow got easily distracted. He tried to ignore and avoid him but that pesky hedgehog never knew to stay away. The only reason Shadow raced him was to get him to stay away from him until the next time they met. Shadow hated feeling this way and that was why he put distance between himself and others. The only other being that evoked these feelings was Maria, and he intended to keep it that way.

Quickly before any other and more annoying thoughts crept into his mind he dashed over to Sonic. "Where the heck were you going, faker? You should at least tell everyone about what you are going to do. You wanted everyone to go on this journey with you so the least you could do was stay with the group."

Instantly knowing that Shadow wasn't in a good mood once again he knew to get straight to the point. Lately Shadow kept pushing him away. From where he was standing he looked like he was the only one and that particularly annoyed him. 'And I thought we could be friends, what the hell was I thinking?'

"Well you knew quite well what I was doing and you would notify the others. Besides, *he shrugged* it would take too long to tell them then go searching."

"Well, you are going to come back with me to everyone else until we can get more information on this place. What if you end up in a lake then who would save you from drowning, hmmm? When we get back you have to STAY WITH THE GROUP. Think you can keep that in mind?"

"Sure," Sonic agreed to go but it wasn't because of Shadow. He wanted to see the map again so he could find out if it might lead them to a more interesting place than just running around by chance. Still, he wanted to startle Shadow a bit so he just complied willingly for a minute; then the trademark grin that he had, came flashing back. "But, only if you can get there before me."

With that Shadow was left in shock for a second, but that was all Sonic needed to get ahead of him and reach the group first. 'Damn,' Shadow thought, 'I knew it was suspicious that he would agree so readily to what I said. I should have kept my guard up.'

Everyone was setting up camp while the two speedy hedgehogs were gone. The portal was the only known way out of the Land they reached and since they had to have a base, the clearing it led to seemed like the best choice.

Knuckles was sent to get firewood, Amy and Rouge were preparing the tents and Tails was setting up his equipment. Everyone was doing something … except Sonic and Shadow. He could see it then, Sonic provoking Shadow and getting him to chase him through the entire forest. Tails let out a sigh. Those two never seemed to grow up. It was one thing for Sonic to act childish but the fact that Shadow let it get to him did leave some questions to think about. Even Tails knew that he was more mature than Sonic seemed to be.

The key word being 'seemed'. Being with his older brother most of the time, he knew when Sonic was being serious and why he let it seem like he was nothing but a child. When they were younger Sonic told his a story about a girl he met. Of course being more like Sonic at that time he had no interest in the story, but his brother almost never talked about his past so he listened to the whole thing. He could sense that Sonic needed to get it off his chest.

Sonic was about 8 when he met her. Her name was Sally. She had brown-white fur and had eyes a deeper color than the yellow of the sun. Personality wise, she was a lot like Sonic, minus the speed, attitude and taste for chilly dogs. However she loved running, forests, open fields and the adventures Sonic went on. Although she couldn't fight Eggman herself, she enjoyed every story Sonic told, even if it was stretched out a little. She was Sonic's first love. She was also very kind. No matter who it was, even Eggman, she would give them a second chance. Always giving people the benefit of the doubt.

Then Eggman attacked her small village. He wanted to make room for his Eggman empire. Being too cocky, Sonic let down his guard and Eggman nearly had him but she pushed him out of the way to save his life. Tails could remember the last words she told Sonic and Sonic told him. "Never stop being your happy and joyful self. I'll cry with you and I'll laugh with you. I always want to see that face of yours smiling. Just don't try to get killed. Keep your guard up. That's what I always warned you about. Don't hate Eggman. Remember what I said, reform him. Killing is never the answer."

Ever since then Sonic hasn't fell in love with anybody. He always cared for his friends and he kept living so she could see him smile. Never crying because he didn't want her to cry and protecting everyone he ever met. He stuck by her words and never killed Eggman, no matter how much he wanted to. Eventually, the desire to kill him had passed and Sonic took her beliefs as his own. Whether it was to remember her or to give her a tribute of his love, Tails never found out. That was the reason why he couldn't love Amy. Even if he loved his friends, true love never seemed to be able to reach his heart again.

"TAILS!" Snapping out of his thoughts he turned around to see Knuckles with a pile of fire wood, but no kindling.

"Didn't I already tell you knuckles? We need some smaller flammable stuff in another pile in order to start the fire."

Trying to play it cool he said "I knew that but where do I put this for now?" It was pretty obvious that he forgot about the kindling but Tails just went along with it to spare the red echidna's pride.

"Over by the rocks, I'll set it up while you go get the kindling. I am almost finished here after all."

Not long after Knuckles left (thankful that he kept his pride) Sonic and Shadow came speeding in. Apparently they raced again and once again, it was a tie.

It seemed that those two would never learn to stop competing. Tails once again sighed as he turned his attention to them.

"I TOTALLY beat you here," said a certain blue hedgehog.

"AS IF, the only victor here is me and you know that. I'm surprised that you are so dense that you can't notice it," a scowling black hedgehog was next to him and apparently very irritated.

"Sonic, Shadow, both of you need to calm down. While you two were gone we had to set up the base alone, and because of that we took a lot longer to set up. Now we can't go exploring today because it got dark. We'll have to start first thing in the morning." The two tailed fox was tired and still irritated about not being able to make sense about what he learned that day, however, he was still slightly scared of Shadow so he spoke cautiously.

"Alright, alright. Sorry little buddy, I got excited as I always do, you know me." A sneaky expression came upon Sonic's face. "You also know I like to give you surprise hugs." And then the blue hedgehog lifted his little brother in the air and gave him a big bear hug; the whole time Tails was laughing and had a big smile on his face.

What everyone didn't know was that there was someone, or something lurking in the shadows, unnoticed by the strange trespassers. "They should not be here. I won't allow anyone near the artifacts."

**A/N: What artifacts is it talking about? Is it a friend or an enemy? Even more concerning who is it? Read the next chapter if you want to find out. Also I was going to update this yesterday but I realized I made a big mistake and couldn't update until now. Sorry for the missed day, but I will only be making daily updates for a while.**


	4. A Strange Hedgehog

**So I am updating AGAIN today because my last chapter didn't get put up because of an error I made writing it and it couldn't be up till today so yeah. I have one more announcement. I will be adding my character to this chapter and I might decide to add more. Probably won't because I like sticking to the characters given, but oh well.**

**Sonic: So now you are trying to make our lives worse inside the story? GREAT, now we have to worry about you attacks too. This is so ANNOYING!**

**Yeah, yeah, we all heard that before. Can't you say anything more interesting? We are going to lose viewers if you don't suck it up and just stick you words in your a-**

**Shadow: Hey, you both are giving me headaches, so shut up before I make you. And if you still don't want to listen "meet my little friend" *points gun***

**…Before Shadow does anything too hasty, *pushes gun point down with hand* here's the next chapter.**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of the characters or anything from SEGA**

**Chapter 4: A Strange Hedgehog**

The strange creature was just lurking in the shadows. Both of the hedgehogs heard something but there was nothing there.

"Hey, Shadow."

Yeah, faker"

"You hear that, right?"

"Oh yeah, loud and clear."

"So either we are both hallucinating, or there really is something out there"

"Since I don't like being lumped together with you and thought to be crazy, I think something is there."

"As if you could be believed to be crazier than you already are."

"Shut it faker, or the thing out there isn't the only one to be beat up in a second."

Seeing as how both Sonic and Shadow seemed to be on edge watching around them, Tails went to everyone else to warn them. Soon everyone was gathered together on guard and listening. They were in a circle with their backs to each other.

"There at 3:00," Knuckles shouted.

"No, here in front of me," Amy said.

"Wrong it is in front of me" Shadow said.

Everyone thought that the enemy was in front of them and there was sheer confusion for a full 5 minutes, all in suspense. Then it attacked. Rouge was the first to go down, and while she was pinned to the ground everyone saw their attacker.

She was a blue hedgehog like one other they knew but her fur was different. It was darker, almost like the night sky, and yet her eyes were like crystal. They were a bright orange and they could attack like a spear. Her quills draped down to her elbows and looked like they could extend and shoot out any minute. She had gloves just like Sonic but her shoes were strange. They looked like sneakers but they were made of a strange substance. The shoes were a grey color and had no laces. But what was the most intimidating was her aura. It radiated superiority that seemed to make everyone fall back. Except for two hedgehogs.

Before anyone could do anything to attack her she spoke, "If you don't want this one dead I suggest you fall back and comply with my orders. All those who object to anything will be eliminated before you can blink. And before you speak I will only allow one to speak for you. Hands will be visible at all times and you may not turn away. You," she pointed at Sonic, "You will be the voice for your group. Now answer me, why are you here?"

Not wanting to hurt anyone or risk Rouge's life Sonic spoke the truth. "We came because of a box that I happened to find. We managed to open it and there was a scroll which led us here."

Her eyes narrowed at the statement. "I can see that you and your companion over there *motions to Shadow* look like me. Where did you come from, state your names and what you are."

"I am Sonic the Hedgehog; I was born on Mobius and I am the fastest thing alive. He is Shadow the Hedgehog; he was created to be the Ultimate Lifeform by Professor Gerald Robotnic on Space Colony ARK."

"I do not believe you. What is a hedgehog and what are your motives. If you are telling the truth then show me the box. Answer these in order."

Looking at each other in surprise they could only look bewildered as the hedgehog before them didn't know what a hedgehog was. "Well a hedgehog is an animal. Some are mobians like us and others are just animals. Our motives were to discover whether the civilization mentioned in our legends really exist and if so then we would have liked to meet them. I will gladly show you the box and the scroll, however they are still in the bag over there with a lot of our equipment and I would have to go get it for you since you do not know what the box looks like."

Her eyes narrowed at that statement. Suspecting some betrayal she allowed Sonic to move but purposely looked away from Knuckles for a second. That second Knuckles shouldn't have done anything. She sensed him coming and jabbed him in a single spot and he was dead. Everyone, even Sonic rushed over to him to check if he was alright (Except Rouge, she was stuck as her captive). Knuckles had no pulse, no movement of his lungs, and his eyes even moved to the back of his head.

"I warned you all, you were not allowed to attack. You can clearly see that this one is dead and if you move also then you shall become like him. If you want to speak now I don't care, but no one attacks me again."

Tails was the first to scream at her, "You murderer! How could you kill him? He was our friend!"

She had no reaction to this her eyes as cold and heartless and when they first saw her. "I warned all of you. Because this one attacked me I killed him and the same fate shall occur to you if you don't comply. Sonic the Hedgehog, bring me the box you mentioned earlier or this one (Rouge) shall die too."

With a look of fear in her eyes, Rouge begged for Sonic not to attack. Even if Knuckles was dead, the mere fact that Knuckles was taken down so easily made her break. She couldn't bear to have anyone die and she didn't want to leave everyone behind.

Sonic complied with the mystery hedgehog's wishes but every moment glared and cursed her every minute after that. Sonic rarely ever cursed so this showed just how angry he was at her killing Knuckles. "Here is that damn box you wanted! *slams box on the floor* You can take whatever you want but the moment you leave I'll hunt you down and kill you myself!"

Ignoring his threats and curses, as well as everyone else's, she picked up the box and opened it to find the scroll. Then she read the scroll to find a surprise. Her eyes widened at a discovery she made. Then, she just let Rouge go. Everyone was startled at the sudden action she performed. Then Shadow attacked with Sonic. Rather than giving her one-hit-dead attack again she merely dogged and stopped the two hedgehogs before they could do anything else.

"I now trust you all, and I can see that you have no ill will to me or my duty; and you are allowed to continue on your way."

Sonic screamed, "THAT'S ALL?! YOU KILL OUR FRIEND, AND THEN YOU LET US PASS THROUGH WITH NO PROBLEM AFTER SEEING A STUPID SCROLL!? I SWEAR THAT IF IT IS THE LAST THING I DO I WILL KI-"

"Your friend isn't dead."

"What?" Sonic questioned.

"But he is on the ground without any air, pulse or dilating pupils," Tails said.

"That is an effect of a certain plant I have in my hand. All I really needed was the thorn to induce the state. In about 3 minutes you friend will be back on his feet. I am one to never kill any creature that can think for themselves, so I use the plants effects as a threat upon incoming intruders."

After finding out that Knuckles was going to live everyone cheered for joy. The fact that their friend was going to live caused a breath of relief to spread among the group.

It was Shadow's turn to speak, "Then I have a few questions. How and why did you suddenly decide to trust us, and what is your duty?" Everyone seemed to be curious at this and wondered just what was going on for her to have put on the charade.

"I trust you because of this scroll and box. These tie into my duty which is guarding artifacts like this and the land. The previous guardian had died when I was little and I took over the job because no one else was around. In about a week I will be relieved of my duties and the true guardian will take the job. The true guardian is to be a sealed creature that comes when there are trespassers that mean harm to the artifacts so it will not mistake you as one if you do not take the artifacts. It is a measure to prevent incidents like this one. This was told to me by the ancient scrolls of the Varons, and you apparently have one of them. These scrolls are sacred and I read in this one that you are trust worthy."

After explaining why she was acting hostile towards them they seemed to trust her more. Shadow still didn't find her presence welcoming; but he did admit that she pulled off quite the act, while still remaining a non-killer.

Everyone remembered the first time they met Knuckles. He was anti-social at that time and was extremely protective of his island and the Master Emerald. All he did was fight against Sonic and his friends even though they meant no harm to the Master Emerald. Knuckles trusted no one until the so called "intruders", saved the Master Emerald from the clutches of Eggman and his robots.

Since everyone already went through something similar they relaxed a little because the only difference between Knuckles from back then and the strange hedgehog was that the hedgehog pulled off a much more elaborate and intimidation act. The hedgehog was going to leave the others because she thought that after such a hostile attack would want her to leave; but before she could enter the shadows once again she felt a tug on her wrist.

"Where are you going, we can't explain everything to Knuckles, he is going to have to meet you too in order to believe anything." She looked up to find Sonic face with a calm grin, very unlike the harsh and cold expressions she was given before. "Which reminds me, what is your name?"

The hedgehog hesitated for a moment before replying. "My name is Midnight. Also seeing how you are a hedgehog I think I am too so I guess my full name is now, Midnight the Hedgehog."

**A/N: Wait…wasn't Midnight the Hedge how mentioned in Chapter 2? Is this the same Midnight? Well you are going to have to wait for the next chapter to find out. Until then R&R please my good viewers. I put A LOT of suspense in this one, so yeah, bye. J**


	5. The Cave Part 1

**Hi Everyone. Another update. Yeah. That's how bored I am. Well I can't help it, but since I am updating so often I would really appreciate it if you review rather than just read it then leave. I don't care if it is a negative review or what. I think of negative reviews as a way to improve the story.**

**Sonic: Right...**

**And what makes you say that?**

**Sonic: Well, you obviously like writing these or else you wouldn't and negative reviews show that you are a terrible writer.**

**Shadow: Curses, I can't believe you are so cruel.**

**Everyone: AS IF YOU CAN SAY THAT!**

**Well before everyone starts ripping me to pieces for writing so often, I present ... Chapter 5.**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of the characters or anything from SEGA**

**Chapter 5: The Cave Part 1**

Knuckles slowly came into consciousness and heard voices in the distance. He tried to open his eyelids or even move a muscle, but he couldn't. Instead he focused on the noises in the distance.

"How are we going to tell Knuckles about this?"

'Was that Sonic?' Knuckles thought, 'Great, first voice I hear has to belong to that blue idiot. Wait, didn't I get killed but that bitch. Oh, she has it coming to her. I survived since I am so strong and invincible. No one can take down, Knuckles the Great and Powerful Echidna.'

"Why not just say it to his face? It makes no difference to me; plus he might be too in shock to do anything but stare ahead of him."

'There is that voice again. It sounds familiar but I don't know who it is.'

"Midnight, I told you, that knucklehead is too dense to know to stop. He won't be in shock. He'll just charge right away without any regard for what we have to say."

'I'll get Sonic for that the moment my body decides to fully work again.' Knuckles could already start feeling his body again and started to plot his revenge on Sonic.'

"Sonic, I can take care of myself. You were put into a scenario of my advantage; I think I can handle him. Also, don't insult him unless you know he is awake. His consciousness may already be awakened and then he might surprise attack you while you are busy."

'Thanks for the idea, Midnight right? Who is she?'

"Aw, come on. Knuckles is too stupid to think of anything that clever watch. I am going to punch him and he'll do nothing but lay there."

'Be careful Sonic I just got all feeling back and the moment you try to punch me, BAM, one right in the jaw. My chaos sense will really help me here.'

Sonic walked up to the lying body of Knuckles, and just as he was about to deliver the blow everything went the way Knuckles wanted. Both Knuckles and Shadow smiled at the sight of the punched hedgehog.

"Sonic, that person is right. I heard every word since two minutes ago and you better be glad that, that punch was all I gave you for calling ME stupid and a knucklehead."

Knuckles turned around and saw Midnight.

"YOU!" He yelled at her and started to charge right at her and didn't stop until Rouge stepped right in front of him.

"Rouge?"

"Knuckles, we need to get you up to date. While you were down for the count a lot has happened."

Then everyone explained what happened since Knuckles "died". (Yeah, I want to save time and story space so make up your own Knuckles reaction and things. Look back at the last chapter for reference.)

"Alright, so you were protecting the forest and your artifacts, but I still have 2 questions." Knuckles Said.

"Shoot," Said Midnight.

"First off, how did you manage to knock me out while simulating a death?"

"That's easy." Midnight searched the bushes near the trees for about 2 minutes then came back. "The thorn of this plant is how I knocked you out." She showed a strange plant with many thorns and flower petals surrounding the thorn. "The thorn's poisons stop the heart, and in turn everything else, for a while. The poison is weak but effective. There is a counter but you will only be immune for a while. I have about an hour left before the poison can affect me again."

"Second question, what exactly are you guarding and where. It's optional for the second part."

"I have no problem telling you either so here's the story. I guard artifacts with mystical powers like the ones you have with you, the box and the scroll. And I guard them in the cave up there." She pointed to a cave high in the mountains and was nearly invisible unless you were looking for it.

"Hey, can we see the artifacts; it might help our journey and search for the Varons. Your name is in the scroll too. It reads "Midnight the Hedgehog of the Elements," so you are also involved in this." Tails was curious about these unknown artifacts and was very excited at the mention of them again.

"Sorry, I can't. There is a way but it might be too risky for you."

"What do you mean?" Now both Sonic and Shadow were interested. It was a while before they had any excitement and their ears perked up at the mention of danger. In fact it was Sonic who said this.

"The only way I would be able to let you in is if you would donate an artifact, although you would be able to get in, being without that scroll might make it a heavy loss for you."

Sonic and Shadow looked upset but it Tails just had an idea. "What about the box? I made a complete scan of it and its contents so we would be able to give that up."

Midnight thought for a moment. "Technically it is an artifact so I think it would allow you to gain entrance. Also you can come back and check it out if you need something from it so that should be fine."

"Great!" Tails was practically bouncing off the walls and looked happier than ever.

"However I will only lead you there on one condition."

Everyone seemed curious at this. What was the problem? They had everything figured out and there wasn't anything offensive they did. "Take me with you to meet and look for the Varons. I am stuck guarding the cave and land here for one more day; then I will meet a guardian spirit who will take over my job, leaving me with nowhere to go."

Sonic was the first to respond, "Sure, no problem. We can take you with us and all we have to do is wait one day, plus we will be able to see the artifacts."

"Then, follow me; I will lead you to the artifacts now. It will take us about 2 minutes to make the climb and there is about 3 hours before sundown."

Everyone was once again puzzled. How would the entire group, not to mention herself, get to the cave in 2 minutes? The only two who could probably do that were Sonic and Shadow. Seeing the bewildered looks of her new friends she obliged in picking several berries from nearby trees and showed them to the group. The berries were orange and oddly shaped. They looked like clouds being pushed by the wind.

"I call these berries speed berries. They increase your speed to a point where you surpass the speed of sound. You might not be able to move that fast, but I can. These berries will help you accomplish that speed for about 10 minutes, but even with this speed you can get easily lost on the mountain so you have to follow me carefully."

Thought of being able to move as fast as the two (or three now) hedgehogs thrilled them and everyone but Sonic and Shadow took one. When Midnight asked why they weren't eating they merely showed their speed. She was surprised but she didn't ask or react in any other way. She seemed glad that the two were able to move as fast as her and left it at that.

Once everyone ate a piece and took 4 minutes in order to get the hang of sonic speed and they were enjoying it greatly. "Yahoo!" Yelled Tails. "Awesome!" Shouted Knuckles, and many other various things were shouted by the others while Sonic, Shadow, and Midnight finished teaching them how to control the speed. Everyone took one more berry with them and then the group followed Midnight precisely as she showed them how to get to the top of the mountain.

The cave was huge. It seemed to be 20 feet tall and 50 feet wide. The insides were no joke either. The cave contained hundreds of artifacts and it seemed to be a museum. There were jewels in the museum because they had certain effects on living creatures. Those were what really caught Rouges eye but she didn't take them because they weren't available to her, until she got in for a second (or third) time.

Midnight walked up to a pedestal and placed the box on it. She then instructed for everyone to put their hand on the pedestal for a minute in order to be registered as donators. They started glowing and she nodded her head, signaling them to let go.

"You are now allowed to be in the Cave and the box is an accepted artifact. Go ahead and search through the cave, but DON'T TOUCH ANYTHING, unless I say it's ok. Some of these artifacts have curses and then you will be put in a very bad situation."

With that the group split up and searched the cave as fast as they could, while asking various questions and other things.

CONTINUED IN PART 2~(Chapter 6)


	6. The Cave Part 2

**Well here it is. The new chapter. I need a life.**

**Sonic: Yeah, you do. It took you this long to figure that out?**

**Shut up! You need one too. Get a girlfriend already. You are moping around about that girl Sally since forever.**

**Sonic: *goes into depression mood***

**Shadow: *to the audience* Yeah. Well while she, comforts (or punishes) Sonic, I will give you chapter 6. Don't thank me or I'll shoot.**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of the characters or anything from SEGA**

**Chapter 6: The Cave Part 2**

Sonic and the group entered the cave, only to be amazed that it was much larger than they first thought; and that the cave looked a lot different from outside. From the outside the cave appeared to be made like a museum only to be disappointed that there was nothing but rocks around them. Seeing the confused faces of her new companions Midnight knew what was wrong, but decided to let the cave have its fun for a little while longer.

"Midnight, where are the artifacts, gold, and JEWELS that we saw earlier?" asked Rouge

"Alright, I guess the cave had enough fun. *Shouts at the ceiling* I have to explain the situation to them now. Rumble to let me and whisper to stop me."

Thinking that Midnight has gone nuts, the others stared at each other and then at Knuckles. Since he is a guardian of a "talking emerald" they though he might know what was happening. Unfortunately, Knuckles seemed to be just as confused as them, if not more.

Then it happened. There was a rumbling that seemed to shake them to pieces. Only Midnight seemed unfazed. The others were getting sick and felt like the cave was falling off the mountain. Suddenly, everything was still again.

"WHAT JUST HAPPENED," Knuckles shouted. Considering how he talked to a lifeless emerald, he probably wasn't the best choice to say this, but Midnight didn't know that so she didn't come up with a typical sarcastic remark.

"Well, the cave moves as a response to my earlier question. As I'm sure you can recall I said-"

"We know that," Shadow snapped, "but why did the cave move. Normal caves do NOT move by themselves."

"Oh, then why didn't you say so?" Midnight said this as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, while everyone else was just staring at her in disbelief. "That is an easier question than the last." Once again, everyone just stared.

"The cave itself is a living creature. There is chaos energy flowing through it which lets it move slightly and have knowledge and understanding of what is going on. The cave is a last defense mechanism. I am the guardian, but only a temporary one so the cave's defenses were activated. If the guardian should fail when they come the cave will act as a maze and will only let those with pure intentions through properly. This cave can also create mirages of desire to strangers, which is what you saw Rouge."

Seeing as how the situation was cleared up the tension in the air steadily dissipated. Sonic, being the carefree spirit he was, was the first to speak. "So, then where is the actual area with the artifacts? You have to have them somewhere and I doubt we would be able to find it on our own."

"I can't believe it, but I think the faker said something of intelligence." Shadow was in, well the shadows, and everyone seemed to be a little startled at his remark. Midnight and Sonic were the only ones to stay calm. Midnight had to guard the artifacts. That meant some night posts and she had very good eyesight in the night after training her eyes to do so.

Sonic on the other hand, had been just annoyed at Shadows voice and he knew Shadow was there thanks to his chaos sense. It wasn't as strong as the back hedgehog's but it was enough to know he was there. Of course he wasn't expecting him to talk, but he didn't show that he was surprised.

"Oh, yeah Shadow? Well it just so happens that I have a rather large vocabulary. For example, this cave is a magnificent, natural wonder. The fact that chaos energy courses through it like a sapient living creature is amazing. Not to offend the cave or anything but normally caves are inanimate and immobile surroundings. The most intriguing fact about this is how the cave gained intelligence in the first place. There could be an infinite variation of possibilities. So many, that unless we use a chaos energy scanner, observe the composition of the rocks and then look for any fossils or remains of past events, we might not know at all. Even then the chances of finding anything remotely useful or of relevance to the question we are asking, is highly unlikely."

There seemed to have been a moment in time when the universe exploded, right then and there. Many thoughts were racing through their minds. The group seemed to be in complete sync as there were dumbfounded looks. Sonic, being apparently very pleased with himself, knew what was coming next after the thoughts in their minds came to a realization at what just happened. Midnight seemed to be the exception.

Tails' Thoughts: What the heck was that? I am his BROTHER, the one who has been with him most of his life and I never even knew about him having such an advanced vocabulary. Heck! I never knew he had a vocabulary, much less one with so much sophistication.

Amy's Thoughts: WOW. I am his GIRLFRIEND. I should have known enough about him that this wouldn't have been such a surprise. Oooh, I am dating a smart guy along with someone who looks cool, is a hero and is the nicest person around *mental sigh* I really am lucky to have Sonic as my boyfriend. I should use this trip to get closer to him.

Rouge's Thoughts: Well, big blue. I NEVER expected that from YOU of all people. I thought you were a dunce like Knuckles but I guess I was wrong. You really can never stop surprising me. When I think I have you figured out you pull something like this that makes me wonder, did I ever _really_ know you?

Shadow's Thoughts: OMG, Son- faker completely surprised me there. Really, with him acting the way he does, makes people wonder if he has a brain at all. This must be a dream. Not it has to be a _TERRIBLE_ nightmare. He can't be can't have just said what I thought he said. *mental slap* Darn! I'm not sleeping.

Knuckles' Thoughts: THE WORLD IS ENDING! There was never a brain in that head of his and with that statement he must have triggered the apoco- something. Apococup? Apoolip? Ah, whatever, right now I have to get my prayers straightened out. There's no doubt in my mind that the world will explode now. God, I don't regret the things I did to Sonic. He was being an annoying bastard. Shadow deserves some credit. He was a lot easier to be around but I don't regret doing those pranks on him and blaming it on Sonic. Amy, you are an annoying fan girl that should get the hint and leave Sonic alone already. He obviously never liked you in that way. Tails, thanks for your help with the master emerald security system. You shouldn't have that blue bastard as your brother. You are too smart for that. Midnight, I regret that I wasn't able to get back at you for what you did to me so this will have to do I guess. Rouge, I HATE you and if any one of us lives through this I want you to know that you better stay away from the master emerald or I will come back from the dead to haunt you.

Midnight's Thoughts: Well I'm clueless. I have no idea as to what's going on. When I told them I didn't know what a hedgehog was earlier, they were shocked. Whatever I don't see the point though. Sonic just chooses not to talk that way. It makes no difference. Why is it so surprising anyway. Sure, I can tell that he is an impulsive hedgehog, and that he probably doesn't think things through, but then why are they so surprised? There is no reason for them to be so shocked. Hopefully I won't have to break the silence. That would be *sing songy voice* awkward.

"WHAT THE HELL! WHERE DID YOU LEARN ANYTHING LIKE THAT," everyone but Sonic and Midnight screamed at once, "SCRATCH THAT WHERE DID YOU LEARN TO USE BIG WORDS LIKE THAT AT ALL!?"

It was creepy how everyone talked at once, but the two hedgehogs ignored it as they were checking to make sure that their ears weren't bleeding or damaged beyond salvation.

"Gosh, guys. The least you could was to not scream so loudly. I thought you said we were friends, but what friend yells like that in someone's ear?" Midnight was trying to get the ringing to stop but to no avail. Then the staring was at both of them. Everyone _really_ couldn't believe that someone didn't see the problem here.

"Seriously, you don't understand why I know those words, or why this is such a shock?" Sonic said.

"Nope, I don't have a clue."

Everyone was staring at Midnight again (this time Sonic included). "Well, I can explain that right now. My family was actually pretty up in the standings of a country. It is small and many people didn't know about it. I was young at the time, but I didn't like being the 'good gentleman' and 'pampered prince' so I ran. I think I was about 5 years old then. My family was great but the restrictions were too much. After about a year or two, about the time I met Tails, I went back to keep in touch with my family. I kept my studies for this reason and the knowledge has been stuck in my head ever since. There was no way I would have seen them again if I was only capable of talking like a 'street rat'."

"Okay, now that everyone is done gawking at Sonic, follow me so we can head to the artifacts. It will get dark soon and I want you guys out of here by then. I can take you back here tomorrow though so just look and see if you can find anything that might be helpful on our journey later."

The group followed Midnight down a path. It seemed as if she was being pulled at the whole time because she was a bit distracted. The shadows on the walls disappeared as they walked farther and farther from the entrance. The slight light that Midnight had was just barely enough to show which direction she was heading in.

When they exited the tunnel they found themselves in a rather strange area. They were in a wide open space where an entire island seemed to be. The top of the ceiling wasn't visible so it seemed like they were in the open again, but that couldn't be true. It was bright in there and it was going to be nightfall in about two hours. This place had light like it was the middle of the day.

"The chaos energy in the cave is mostly positive and it allows living beings survive in conditions like this. Eventually this is what it became. There is the artifact area further up ahead. It should only take another three minutes to get there."

Soon enough the group managed to make it to the building. It was the only one around so it was noticeable. It was extremely large and it had a map so no one would get lost. The building was exactly the opposite of what they were expecting. The size of the building was about the size of the Whitehouse. The rooms in the building were confusing so they had trackers as well as their maps so no one would get lost. The building seemed to have been made recently but that was very impossible. Tails assumed that nothing in the cave was really exposed to the elements so they were in better condition than buildings outside the cave. Tails also made a mental note to check the plants and animals that seemed to live in the cave off of chaos energy.

"Well, welcome to the temple. Here is where I guard the artifacts. Follow me there are four areas that are in there with a separate hall for each."

As they entered the insides showed the age of the building. While the outside seemed to never age, there were things from history that decorated the halls, columns, and floors. The engravings also seemed to be more artistic and belonging to a time way before there were any written records. It was like the building itself was an artifact. They were guided to several chairs that seemed to be

"There are four areas in the Temple. The temple is divided in order to make sure certain artifacts don't mingle. Also it is easier to keep track of which artifacts are where. The four areas are Cursed Jewels, Enhanced Weapons, Historical Records (in other words books), and Hidden Secrets. The first three are pretty much self-explanatory but the last I will clear up for you. Hidden Secrets is an area of artifacts that are mysterious. Either they have a mystery that had been solved but the true purpose is missing, or it hasn't been solved at all. This box of yours seems to belong to that area. I suggest that we stay together as a group. Stay here and don't touch anything until I come back. I must put this artifact away right now. When I come back we can head down one of the halls. Take this time to decide."

The moment Midnight left the room Rouge stepped up and said "We are going into the Cursed Jewels room. Those beauties are waiting for me to look at them."

"Well I wanted to check the Historical Records area. We might be able to learn about the history of the Varons." Tails said. (A/N: Thought I forgot about the Varons? Well no. I do remember them and this is what it will be about later. They will be a whole lot more important as the story develops.)

"Wrong losers," Shadow suddenly said, "We are headed down the Enhanced Weapons area. The weapons there are just sitting there to be used." At this the group mentally agreed with each other that they shouldn't go there with Shadow.

Knuckles decided to voice his opinion. "The Hidden Secrets area might have more things like the box and that we have. Maybe we can find something more in there."

And so they were arguing for a good ten minutes since it took forever to get the darn box registered into the Hidden Secrets area. When Midnight came back, everyone was still arguing and they couldn't decide on an area to search.

**Well, what do you people think? Review please. Also like I mentioned in my other story, Maternity Leave, I will be (at the very least) updating every week. That means seven days. I updated this today on a Saturday. That means next Sunday will DEFINITELY have the next chapter, unless I say otherwise.**

**Sonic: So you are a lazy ass author that harms, humiliates and ruins us for your own amusement? You are one SICK lady.**

**Yeah, well I'd like to see you do better. You are the most self-arrogant hedgehog I have ever met. You think you're so smug; well I'm the one who made you like that and I can easily undo it!**

**Sonic: …**

**Yeah, I thought so.**


	7. Bonding

**THANKSGIVING BONUS.**

**Hey everyone. I know I have been gone for a long time, but that's for one reason. I was going to make a bonus by making all the chapters of my stories twice as long. Cursed Bonds is already lengthy (my choice) so I got lazy and didn't post the previous chapter and just made this one a bonus. Finally I had to write chapters for all my other stories too so that took a while. A total of 7083 words were written and that is no easy feat. Also don't give me the complaints because you are not the one writing these stories so just don't wine how they are late. I KNOW ALREADY! -_- I also was banned from the computer so don't start. It was hard enough getting my daily amount of Sonic while writing the stories up.**

**Sonic: You should have just dropped the stories. The plot sucks anyway.**

**Yeah, well I don't care. This story is to build up detail and suspense anyways.**

**Shadow: Just start it already. Don't prolong our agony.**

**So, for those of you that actually read this story, Chapter 7.**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of the characters or anything from SEGA**

**Chapter 7: Bonding**

Midnight took one look at the arguing bunch and knew that they didn't decide on one but decided to ask anyways. "Guys, did you decide on one path yet?"

Shadow was the first to speak. "Yeah, we are going down the Enhanced Weapons hall. No one is going to go against this." While he was saying this he gave a glare that fazed everyone but Sonic.

"No," Sonic said, "No one even agreed on which hall we are going to go down yet. Now since the four of you can't seem to decide on anything it is my vote that will decide where we go."

"First of all faker," Shadow said, "What makes you think that your vote is worth that much anyways, and what makes you think that we, much less myself, will follow YOUR decision."

Sonic didn't get concerned about Shadow's retaliation and continued with a classic smirk on his face. "We all know that Amy will agree with me-"

"It's true," said Amy with a bright smile on her face.

"-and if the four of you can't decide, I am the only one who is left to make a choice. Besides, I don't really think that Midnight cares where we go, as long as we leave before sunset." Sonic continued.

"Watch out the world is ENDING!" Knuckles yelled.

Rouge was the one to calm down the frantic echidna. "Whoa there, now calm down knucklehead. What in the world is making you think such a thing?"

"Well, Sonic just made sense with LOGIC of all things."

With this the entire group, except Shadow, Sonic, and Midnight were in hysterics. Shadow just sneered at Sonic and the hysterical group, while Sonic simply huffed and looked away. Midnight was just oblivious to the reason why the group was acting the way it was.

"Calm down everyone. If the world was ending we would be dead by now, even if your explanation for it makes no sense." said Midnight.

Sonic then decided to speak out against the group. "Yeah, it's not like it's impossible for me to say some logic and to prove it here's some more."

The group calmed down to listen to Sonic, all the while having a look on their faces like a miracle was about to happen. "First of all, Knucklehead made the choice of going down the Hidden Secrets hall and with our luck and the fact that it was Knuckle's choice, we are more than likely to get a curse put on us."

"Don't call me a Knucklehead; at least I made a CHOICE."

"Yes and that choice will get us killed. Tails, even though you are my buddy, no one will really be interested in such a hall with so many books and other stuff, so no go."

No one could really disagree with that other than Tails, so there was just a wave of agreement rushing through the group. "Shadow, do you REALLY think we will trust you with those weapons surrounding us? So I say the best choice is the Cursed Jewels hall. I don't see a problem going in there and Rouge can't steal from there anyways until we figure out the stuff we need to."

"So we're all agreed?" asked Midnight.

"Yeah, as much as I hate to admit it I must agree with Sonic. Though I don't trust the bat one bit in there." replied Knuckles.

Rouge obviously was very happy that her choice was the one everyone followed so she already headed in the way of the hall. The group followed and Midnight, Shadow and Sonic were in the back.

"Midnight, I have a question that has been bothering me for a while now. How did you get your Sonic speed?" asked Shadow.

"Yeah, I wondered about that too." Sonic said.

"I was born with it. It came in handy while living by myself in the woods. As I said before the previous guardian died before the true guardian could come. That is how I survived as an infant when he died I decided to repay his efforts by taking over his job." Midnight suddenly stopped. "We are here. You are allowed to explore the room as you please but remember. Some of the curses on these jewels don't help people in any way, but they cause mayhem."

Seemingly no one paid attention to what Midnight said and just went on their way through the hall. Rouge was busy with trying to keep her hands off the jewels while Tails was gawking at the different kinds of gems. Most of them he didn't even recognize. Shadow was just looking around and Knuckles, well he was being the Knucklehead that we all know and love/hate. Sonic was just speeding through the hall trying to find something of interest while Amy was hoping that Sonic would propose with a gem like one of the ones in the hall.

While Sonic was speeding around he bumped into Knuckles who was looking at one of the jewels on display. Sonic was just trying to agitate him but because of this Knuckles waved his fist in the air and hit the jewel behind him. It was a beautiful sapphire and it was irregularly shaped. When it started to shake and smoke they knew something wasn't right. When they saw the look on Midnight's face all hope that it was something good erased from their minds. She was a pale white like Rouge and there was stiffness to her. The next thing they knew she was out the door and locked it.

"You have anger the spirit in the jewel so you must face the consequences or else there will be great evil released onto the world that no one will be able to stop for a thousand years." Midnight shouted.

It was then that the spirit came out and started to form in the shadows. It seemed huge. With many muscles and it had a powerful booming voice. The aura of the being seemed to radiate power and tyranny so the group, except Shadow and Sonic backed away in fear. Most could tell Sonic was just being stupid with that courage of his, but it was unclear if Shadow was frozen in place or if he was just wanting a fight.

Rouge and Tails took to the air and tried to look after the two hedgehogs, ready to swoop in and get them out of there in case things got too intense. Amy had her hammer out and Knuckles was covering her in the back. Then the being stepped out of the shadows, to reveal…

An Elf.

The creature was just barely the height of the knees of the group. Considering that they are short, this was saying something. The elf wore big poofy clothes that looked like the muscles in the shadows. It was green and wore brown shoes with the points curling. His ears were pointed and the hat he wore looked like a genie's but it was red. It also wore black motorcycle glasses to try to look intimidating. It a word it was…

"CUTE!" Amy shouted.

This put the group into a laughing fit. The only exception was Shadow but even he was chuckling at the new "threat". Rouge and Tails were having a tough time staying airborne with all the laughter and Knuckles and Sonic were on the floor in hysterics. Amy just kept staring and saying how cute it was. Behind the door Midnight could hear their laughter and shook her head. 'They may be laughing now,' she thought, 'but when they receive their punishment they won't be anymore.'

"Quiet!" shouted the now tiny and squeaky voice of the elf.

This made everyone pause for a while and then resume their laughing. They were even louder now. This only made the elf madder and madder. His face started looking like a tomato since there was still some green on his face. This only encouraged the laughing. The elf decided he had enough and froze everyone. They still knew what they were doing, but they couldn't control their own bodies now.

"Since you refuse to listen to me I will make you." Said the elf. "You have disturbed my rest and I will make sure that you receive a proper punishment." With this he released the group and now knowing the powers the elf had they were more wary but still let some snickers out once in a while.

The tiny elf looked at them and glared. "You seem so fond of laughing at others so I will grant you your wish. Now you can laugh at each other in pairs." On that note there were three beams shot at the group. One hit Rouge and Tails, the second hit Shadow and Sonic, while the third hit Amy and Knuckles. Once this was done he disappeared back into the sapphire. Everyone fell after they got hit and this was more painful for Rouge and Tails since they were up in the air. Sonic tried to rub his head after the fall, but found that his right hand was connected to something. Correction, someone. He saw that it was holding Shadow's left hand. Shadow realized this too and both tried to pull their hands away, unsuccessfully. Looking around, Sonic noticed that the others were in similar situations. Knuckles was with Amy while Tails was with Rouge.

Shadow still tried to pull their hands apart but stopped when he noticed that Sonic didn't do the same.

"What are you doing faker? We have to get our hands apart."

"Well we know that it was some magic that did this to us so we might as well wait for Midnight to return. Maybe she has a way to fix this."

"Yeah, especially since it was your fault."

"Hey, Knucklehead was the one to knock the jewel." Sonic protested.

"Which he wouldn't have done if you didn't purposely bump into him."

At this point Midnight returned sensing that the spirit was gone.

"You left us inside here with that elf!" Knuckles shouted.

"It wouldn't have affected me anyways, but it knows the ones that disturb it. You had to face your punishment. It was my duty at the time to make sure you received it." Midnight responded.

"Tell me you have a cure for this." Said Shadow. "I cannot take being connected to faker for this long."

"Same here." Everyone said.

"Well, I cannot do anything. I have no power for this, but I know for a fact that this will only last a week. You are lucky. The jewel that you knocked was one that had limited power. If you had knocked over a different one it might have been permanent."

"WHAT!" Everyone shouted.

Sonic walked over to a different jewel, and pointed to it while dragging Shadow along. "So if I knocked this one over that says eternal power on the pedestal, will it combine with the curse we already have and make it permanent?"

Midnight nodded her head, and everyone tackled Sonic. Of course they were careful of the pedestal. They didn't want to make the situation any worse.

"Everyone, we must leave now if we are to make it to your campsite by sundown. Follow me out of here."

So the ones that needed to eat the berries ate them and the group sped their way out of the cave and down the mountain to the campsite. Midnight decided to say goodbye there and that she would be back in the morning when she is relieved of her duties as a temporary guardian.

"Well since we are stuck like this the sleeping arrangements must be changed. The girls were going to sleep together but it seems like I'm with Rouge and Knuckles is with Amy." Tails said. "So I guess that means that we sleep with our partners. We have four tents so the fourth will be for Midnight when she comes back. There is only one bed in each so we have to sleep together too. The only exception is the girl's tent and since Rouge has so much stuff we have to take that one. Knuckles and Amy are sleeping together and so are Shadow and Sonic."

There would have been more arguing, but seeing as how it had been a long day, they were hungry and they needed to figure out more on the scroll and what section they were going to visit next.

The group decided that the Cursed Jewels hall was out and the Enhanced Weapons hall. No one wanted to go in the Cursed Jewels hall again and nobody wanted to be in the Enhanced Weapons hall with Shadow in it. The Hidden Secrets hall was out too since there might be another situation like the previous one which they did NOT want to repeat. So to Tails' delight they agreed on the Historical Records hall the next day. At that point it was pretty late and so the group ate and went to bed, with the designated sleeping arrangements.

WITH TAILS AND ROUGE~

The duo walked into the tent together and tails looked away so Rouge could do whatever it was she did to get ready for bed. Surprisingly to the young fox, all she really did was brush her teeth and removed her makeup. When he turned around though it still looked like it was on. 'Talk about a permanent face plant.' thought Tails.

Rouge let out a small sigh. It wasn't very loud but for the sensitive ears of the kit, it was plenty of noise.

"What's wrong Rouge?"

"Nothing really, it's just that I wish that I could have gotten stuck with the Knucklehead. I mean it's obvious to the others that I like him, but it seems like he is too dense to notice."

"Well you DO tease him almost ALL the time."

"Yeah, but that's just because it is so easy to do."

Tails thought for a moment but decided to tell Rouge his secret. The one that might just ruin his relationship with the one he loved. "You know Rouge, you aren't the only one that has a love but can't admit it."

Rouge had to raise an eyebrow at this. "Oh really?" She had to admit. She usually was the one to notice if anyone liked another. 'Just who could this person be?' She wondered.

"Yeah, I happen to like someone but I can't tell her. She likes someone else and I am younger than her. I know she won't like me."

'Wait…I just told the kid that I like Knuckles and I am at the MOST a FEW years older than the kid. He couldn't possibly be talking about ME, could he?'

"Yeah, she is really pretty and she can hold her own in a battle. She is strong and stays focused at the task at hand, especially if it means helping her friends,"

'OMG he IS talking about me! What do I do?! I can't date the kid. He is only 10 years old for Pete's Sake!'

"I'm guessing you figured out who she is now. You are smart. Surely you could piece the pieces of the puzzle, right?"

Rouge gulped. She was slightly sweating and very nervous and tense. She didn't know how she could break it to the kid that she didn't like him.

"Then it's no secret that I like… Amy."

"Look Tails I appreciate that you li-, WAIT WHAT?"

"I like Amy."

It was at this point that rouge fell down anime style, dragging Tails down with her. As she helped Tails and herself back up, there was one thought running through her mind, 'Talk about an ego. Sheash, I can't believe I thought about myself being a possibility at all. Still, what a surprise. Tails and Amy huh?'

"Sorry about that Tails, I thought that you were talking about…someone else."

Now it was Tails' turn to be surprised. "What? Well, who did you think I liked?"

Once again Rouge acted like an anime character and sweatdropped. "Umm no one special. Anyways, you like Amy and I, Knuckles, but the two of them are stuck together while we are stuck together. I think I have a plan on how to get them to notice us."

And so the duo started to work on their plan to get the pair of Knuckles and Amy to notice them.

WITH KNUCKLES AND AMY~

Amy had her hammer out while Knuckles was inching away from her as much as possible. Well, as much as you can while having hands stuck together.

"Now Amy, be a good girl and put the hammer away. I wasn't peeking at you I was simply turning around because I thought we were done. It is not my fault that you had to use the bathroom and girls take so long. How would I know?"

"PERVERT! You still kept looking at me!" Amy was blushing hard. Even when you took a good look at her though you couldn't tell if it was from embarrassment or anger. Knuckles hoped it was the prior.

Normally Knuckles could take down his opponent without so much as blinking an eye. Unfortunately his code of honor prevented him from hitting girls, and friends. Plus, with the distance they were at he wouldn't be able to get much power into his punches, and he only had one fist. Not to mention the shockwave sent through Amy would send him shooting too.

And so the 'fight' (if you could call it that) raged on between Knuckles and Amy.

WITH SONIC AND SHADOW~

The bed in their tent was pretty small but the two hedgehogs could easily make the squeeze, with their agile bodies. There was just one problem. Sonic didn't want Shadow to sleep next to him.

"Hey, Shadow?"

"WHAT!?"

Slightly flinching at the sudden shout sonic avoided Shadow's gaze as much as he could, while moving away at the same time.

"Well, I was hoping that you would sleep on the floor while I sleep on the bed."

"No."

"Aw, come on Shadow. Please. I just don't want to sleep with you of all people. I don't think I can sleep with someone like you that could choke me at any minute."

"Listen faker, no means no. The word is made up of two little letters. Even you should be able to understand it."

"Yeah, well I just don't want to sleep next to you either."

"Fine then YOU sleep on the floor, and I will take the bed."

"Bad idea."

Shadow raised an eyebrow at this. How in the world could it be a bad idea?

"Does it even make a difference? Either way we are separated, just like you WANTED."

Sonic seemed to shift away even more, looking very uncomfortable. "Yeah, I just can't tell you."

"Well, then we sleep together on the bed, if I get a cramp from that position then I want the rest of my body to at least be in comfort."

Shadow waited. He expected a comeback; he even set it up for the blue one. He expected a 'Well, who knew the Ultimate Lifeform can't rough it.' or a 'So you want to sleep with this hot body?' but Sonic said nothing. He just tensed up and inched away even more. Now they were both fully extending their arms.

Even Shadow had his moments of concern. It wasn't like Sonic to act the way he was, and he usually was a lot more confident in what he was doing.

"Faker you aren't acting like yourself."

Sonic never made eye contact. Shadow took a few steps toward Sonic and grabbed his face with is free hand forcing Sonic to look up. Even then his eyes just darted elsewhere.

"Look at me."

Sonic said and did nothing.

"Fine then, I will just drag you to the bed myself. I am TIRED. I need sleep. I don't need you keeping me awake all night."

The bed was near the side of the tent and Shadow put Sonic against the side. Shadow slept on the end. Sonic squirmed but he couldn't move that much. If he did the tent might fall and wake the others, and with Shadow pinning him the way he did, there was no way he would be able to get up.

Shadow soon fell asleep while Sonic was quickly following suit. This left Sonic alone to his thoughts.

'I guess I just have to hope that I don't have THAT nightmare.' And with that Sonic fell asleep next to Shadow.

5 MINUTES BEFORE SUNRISE~

Shadow slowly woke up. He was one to wake up to look at the sunrise naturally. He always did. He needed to see these things in place of Maria. There was no way he was going to be able to but he wished he could see one with her. Once he regained full awareness of where he was and what he was doing he saw something VERY strange that made him stop in his tracks. He was staring straight into blue quills. Those quills could only belong to ONE hedgehog, Sonic.

Sonic's quills acted like sharp blades ready to cut any opponent at the slightest sign of trouble. However he couldn't always have them sharp. When he was relaxed his quills weren't any more harmful than a blade of grass. Still, that didn't prevent Shadow from cautiously moving his face from the quills.

Then he realized that he couldn't move much. He looked at his arms and saw that one was under sonic while the other was on top and wrapping it. This made Shadow slightly jump, not enough to wake the other though. Quickly, he removed the top hand to see that it was connected to Sonic's still. 'That must be why I'm sleeping like this.' Shadow thought.

Shadow shook the sleeping hedgehog in an attempt to get the other to wake up. He couldn't deal with having Sonic on his arm. It felt like it was going numb. "Son- Faker, wake up. Its morning already."

Slowly the sleeping hedgehog woke up; only to be surprised that he got a peaceful sleep and even more to find Shadow somewhat hugging him.

"Get up faker, my arm feels like it will be numb soon."

When the two untangled themselves from the bed and their grasp Midnight came into the campsite. Not wanting to disturb the ones that were sleeping, she simply sat in a tree and enjoyed the scenery. It wasn't every day that she was able to relax, so she enjoyed every minute of it.

It was then the two hedgehogs decided to come out of the tent. The two seemed to be arguing about something, but Midnight was too wrapped up in the beauty of the nature around her to care. She did pick up a few words though like 'it's so early' and 'I need more sleep'. After about 10 minutes she came out of the tree and revealed herself. The others were awake from the noise the two were making anyways. Midnight sighed at the sight of the group trying to keep Sonic and Shadow from ripping each other to shreds. There were some things that just got worse as time progresses. This was one of them.

**Yes, yes. I know I am amazing. I finally posted this after so long. Also if you bother to read this story at ALL then REVIEW. It is driving me nuts about how this story has so little reviews. SO DO IT TO KEEP ME WRITING, OR SO HELP IT I WILL DISCONTINUE THIS STORY.**

**Shadow: Wait…That's all it TOOK!?**

**Sonic: People DON'T review this crappy story or its bitchy author. She is CRAZY! Do your hero a favor and SET US FREE. You can leave Shadow, but you hero needs help!**

**Shadow: OH NO! You are suffering alone at the least I should be the first to leave.**

**Amy: NO ME AND MY SONIKKU!**

**Rouge: No I want to see my beautiful jewels again.**

**Knuckles: The Master Emerald NEEDS me!**

**Tails: I honestly don't care.**

**Well none of you are free because you six are my main story characters so you are in different stories. Now ignore what they said and REVIEW, bye. *win**


	8. Chapter 8: ON HOLD :'(

**Listen, I understand that this isn't the BEST story ever, but it would be nice if I could get some more reviews for this story. The latest story (Upside-Down and Backwards) I wrote got more reviews than this one and I wrote the most for it.**

**To those who actually read this story, WHY DIDN'T YOU REVIEW? If you did I might not have this problem because now I have no drive to write this story anymore. Maybe 2-3 months I might feel up to it again but until then I will make this story officially ON HOLD.**

**I seriously feel bad for making people think that this was an update, but this story takes up most of my time and with no reviews… well how many of YOU would really continue this?**

**So once again, SORRY for those who do read and review and to the lazy readers that didn't review and made me lose my drive to write this story, I won't miss you.**

**You people are free to PM me or review about this but I don't know if it will change my mind. All I can say is the status I am putting this as: ON HOLD.**


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